Twins Minor League Report (7/5): Nowlin, Salas, Bullpen Lead Kernels to Victory

The Twins got a great start from Pablo Lopez. Jose Salas had a couple of key hits in a Kernels run. Hopefully Byron Chourio had a great day and got a little better on a non-game day in the FCL. 

Here are the records of the six Twins affiliates through games on Wednesday. 

St. Paul Saints: 49-33 
Wichita Wind Surge: 32-44
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 47-30
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 39-38
FCL Twins: 10-12
DSL Twins: 6-15

Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins concluded the rehab assignment of RHP Cole Sands. In bringing him back up, Josh Winder was optioned to St. Paul. 
The Twins released RHP Connor Sadzeck. He had been pitching with the Saints. 
RHP Chad Donato was activated by the Wind Surge. RHP Pierson Ohl has been moved to the Wichita Development List. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 2, Iowa 3
Box Score
This was a bit of a back-and-forth, low-scoring game in Des Moines. The Saints fell behind 1-0  in the second, but they tied it up in the fourth inning. Iowa re-took the lead 2-1 after five innings. The Saints tied it again in the top of the seventh. Unfortunately, the Cubs scored their third run in the bottom of the seventh inning and held on for the 3-2 win. 

After a record-setting performance last week in St. Paul against Gwinnett, the Saints lineup was a bit quiet on Wednesday. In fact, they had just four hits, though they walked five times. 

Kyle Garlick put the Saints on the board with his seventh double. It scored Matt Wallner who hit his 20th Saints double of the season in this game. The game was tied again in the seventh inning when Anthony Prato drove in Chris Williams with a sacrifice fly. Williams had left off the inning with his second triple of the season. 

Veteran Aaron Sanchez was on the mound in this one for St. Paul. He was charged with two runs on six hits and a walk over the first five innings. He struck out five batters. 

Andrew Bechtold came in for his third relief pitching appearance. He had a 1-2-3 sixth inning. He recorded an infield pop out, a strikeout and a groundout in the inning. 

Austin Schulfer entered the game in the seventh inning. He gave up the go-ahead run on two walks and a hit. Austin Brice worked a perfect ninth inning. 

It marked the second straight one-run loss for the Saints. They are two games over .500 in such games. Unfortunately, the Iowa Cubs are now 19-3 in one-run contests. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, Tulsa 4
Box Score
The Surge fell behind 4-0 after just two innings. That was all. Unfortunately, the Wichita offense wasn’t able to do much against the Drillers on Wednesday. 

Carlos Luna gave up four runs (2 earned) on just four hits over four innings. He walked one batter and had seven strikeouts. 

Alex Scherff came on and struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. Isaac Mattson then had a walk and a strikeout over the final two, scoreless innings. 

Unfortunately, the Wind Surge were only able to muster two hits in the game. Alex Isola hit his 13th double and was walked once. Jake Rucker had the other hit. Seth Gray reached base twice via walks. DaShawn Keirsey scored the team’s lone run in the ninth inning on a wild pitch after reaching via an error. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 2
Box Score
Speaking of close, one-run games, the Kernels have continued to find ways to win games, and that was the case on Wednesday. 

The story of the game was the performance of lefty Jaylen Nowlin. He started and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out 10 batters in the game. As if usually key for him (and most pitchers), throwing strikes is very important. Of his 76 pitches in this one, 51 of them were strikes (67%). 

Nowlin’s blemish came in the fifth inning when he gave up a two-run homer that put the River Bandits ahead 2-1. 

Fortunately, the Kernels responded with two runs over their own in the bottom of the fifth and then the bullpens took over and kept the score at 3-2 for the home team. 

The Kernels scored their first run in the third inning when Noah Cardenas scored on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Jose Salas drilled a first-pitch homer to tie the game. Later, Ben Ross singled to score Jeferson Morales with the go-ahead (and winning) run). 

Malik Barrington replaced Nowlin to start the seventh inning. He gave up two hits over two scoreless innings. He had four strikeouts and no walks. Miguel Rodriguez came in and tossed a perfect ninth inning for his 10th Save of the season. 

Salas led the way with his first triple of the season to go with his third home run of the year. He also had a sacrifice bunt in the game. Doubles were hit by Cardenas (13th) and Morales (5th). 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Jupiter 3 (10)
Box Score 
And yes, another one-run game on Wednesday night. This one had the added bonus of an extra inning. 

The score was tied 2-2 heading to the 10th frame. The Mussels began the top of the inning with Kamron Willman pinch running at second base for Gregory Duran. Mikey Perez laid down a nice sacrifice bunt, but a throwing error allowed not only Willman to score, but Perez was able to advance to third base. After an out, Maddux Houghton drove in Perez with a double. 

In the bottom of the inning, the Hammerheads had two singles and one run. But fortunately for the Mussels, it wasn’t enough and Fort Myers got another win. 

Ben Ethridge dropped his season ERA to 2.49 after giving up two runs (1 earned) on five hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out two batters. Gabriel Yanez came on and struck out five batters over three, one-hit innings. Ricardo Velez pitched a scoreless ninth and held onto the lead in the 10th to record his first Win. 

Dillon Tatum led the offense. He went 2-for-4 with a walk. Gregory Duran went 2-for-5. Ricardo Olivar went 1-for-3 with two walks. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitters of the Day – Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-2, SH, 3B(1), HR(3), R, RBI.
Pitcher of the Day – Jaylen Nowlin (Cedar Rapids) - 6 IP, 2 H, 2 R, BB, 10 K. 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the new Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. (Note - our next prospect rankings update will come after the draft.)

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, HBP, 3 K.
#4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 1-for-2, BB, HR(6), R, RBI, K. 
#9 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(20), R
#11 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, K. (2B, batted second)
#12 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-2, SH, 3B(1), HR(3), R, RBI.
#13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3.

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Iowa (6:38 PM CST) - RHP Blayne Enlow (2-1, 6.57 ERA)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Chad Donato (1-5, 10.73 ERA)
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Kyle Jones (4-4, 4.02 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CST) - LHP Jarret Whorff (2-0, 1.63 ERA) 
FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CST) - TBD 
DSL Rockies @ DSL Twins (10:00AM CST) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics!

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!